The Line of Durin in Its Natural Habitat
by justalotoffeelings
Summary: "When Thorin is effectively held prisoner by Dis for two weeks, and ordered to take a break from all his 'royal running around', Fili and Kili get to spend more time with their uncle than usual. Shenanigans ensue." Just a collection of cute drabbles, from the perspective of a variety of characters. I aim to fill the world with happy Hobbit fanfic before There and Back Again comes o
1. Prologue

Prologue

Being a sister of the heir to the Lonely Mountain had its benefits.

Chief among these was being able to slap him around when he did something stupid.

Dís had taken full advantage of this privilege as soon as he'd shown up on her doorstep, bruised and battered but belligerent as ever, and explained to her in reasonable tones how he'd thought it was a good idea to hunt down a party of trolls who'd been troubling the dwarves at the bottom of the mountain. _Alone_.

That had earned him a solid smack on the shoulder. (It would have been his head, but Dís could see the bandages under his hood, and the slightly unfocused look in his eyes.)

"You're lucky your skull is as thick as you are," she said, "or your getting concussed every couple of years would have me worried."

Thorin grunted. He'd always been so blessed with the gift of speech.

She sat him down on a stool and inspected his scrapes, and re-bandaged what needed re-bandaging, and cleaned what wounds needed cleaning.

"I'll see to your room," she called over her shoulder as she strode down the hallway towards the guest bedroom.

"What?"

"By Aulë," Dís muttered, then said again, louder, "Your room! I'm getting it ready so that His Highness doesn't have to sleep on the floor tonight!"

Thorin stuck his head into the hall. "Now, see here–"

"No, _you_ see here, Thorin Oakenshield," said Dís, poking him in the chest. "You're my prisoner for two weeks, until I deem you fit and ready enough to go get yourself trod all over again."

"_Two weeks_?" growled Thorin. "I'm concussed, woman, not dying."

Dís slapped him a second time.

"_Ow_."

"When was the last time you took a break from all this running around?" she demanded.

Thorin scowled and rubbed his arm where she'd hit him.

She raised her brows pointedly. "Mm, that's what I thought. Business can wait, Thorin. I want you resting, _properly_ resting, under my watch. It'll do you a world of good."

The heir to the Lonely Mountain was silent for a moment. Then he sighed, and folded his arms, and made a lovely show of looking irritated. "Fine," he said curtly. "Two weeks, not a day more."

"His Highness is ever gracious," Dís said, her tone dry. Then she smiled, the kind of smile that she'd worn as a child, about to get back at her brothers for some cruel prank. "The boys will be so happy to see you."

Thorin groaned and sagged against the wall. "Mahal help me."


	2. Eavesdropping

Thorin was fairly delicate the first day or two, so Fili and Kili, showing remarkable self-restraint, left him quite alone for fear of causing him greater discomfort. They hung always out of sight, and spoke in hushed whispers, and took care to step over the creaky floorboards near his end of the house. The boys had never seen their uncle so _inactive_, shut up in his room as he was, and the worried expression Dís wore when she returned from speaking with him that morning gave them further cause for concern.

Eventually their anxiety manifested in eavesdropping, and they huddled against the door of Thorin's bedroom in time to hear Dís mutter, "It will be the death of you."

They shot one horrified glance at each other, then let out a simultaneous howl of despair and threw open the door.

Dís and Thorin stared as they charged into the room, tears streaming down their cheeks and eyes wide with fear. "What's all this then?" Thorin asked, frowning. He was sitting up in bed, the covers drawn up to his waist and the bandages around his chest stark white against the scarred plane of his skin.

"You can't die, Uncle Thorin," Kili sobbed. "You're not allowed to die!"

"We won't let you!" cried Fili, face red with injustice.

Thorin's brows shot up. "Am I dying, sister?"

"_Mahal_, I hope not," Dís snorted. "I've already made your lunch."

Fili looked between the two adults in tearful bewilderment, while his little brother, beyond words now, buried his face in Fili's tunic and sobbed. "W-what?"

"Uncle Thorin isn't dying, silly goose. What on earth put that idea into your head?"

Fili paused, absently rubbing Kili's back. "Well, you looked so worried when you came out from Uncle's room this morning, and then we heard you, we just heard you say, 'It will be the death of you,' and we thought, w-we thought that meant, that–" He broke off as fresh tears welled in his eyes.

"Ohh, my loves," Dís chuckled, and gathered her sons to her. "You've always had a fondness for jumping to conclusions. I was worried this morning because we'd run out of cabbage, and I needed it for tonight's stew. As for what I said…Well, your uncle is a reckless idiot, and that _will_ be the death of him, no doubt, but not for some time. Gods willing."

Thorin made a sound in the back of his throat that was somewhere between a laugh and a growl.

By now Kili had calmed down enough to form coherent sentences. He looked up at his mother, the tears already drying on his cheeks. "Are you sure Uncle isn't dying?" he asked in a small voice.

"Very sure, love."

A moment later Thorin was half buried under his nephews, Fili and Kili having thrown themselves at him in their relief.

"I'm so glad you're not dying, Uncle Thorin," Fili said, his voice muffled in Thorin's shoulder. "We'd miss you terribly."

"Real awfully," Kili added.

Thorin cleared his throat and patted their heads awkwardly. "Well," he started, and coughed, at a loss for what to say. "So am I. Glad, that is."

Laughing quietly to herself, Dís left him to wallow in discomfort for another few seconds before intervening. "Come on, boys, climb down. Uncle Thorin doesn't need your elbows digging into his bandages."

The brothers wriggled carefully out of Thorin's lap and were herded into the hallway.

"But we want to help make Uncle better," Fili protested as Dís started to close the door after them.

"We'll help you look after him!" said Kili eagerly.

Dís smiled. "Maybe tomorrow, my loves. When Uncle Thorin can better withstand your… assistance." She shooed them away. "Go on then, get. Go roll around in the dirt somewhere."

With one last wave at Thorin through the door, Fili and Kili made their way reluctantly out into the sitting room. They did not, however, follow their mother's suggestion. They could not bring themselves to go outside and play.

Not when there was planning to be done.


	3. Doctors Fili and Kili

It didn't take them long to find the materials their plain required; a couple of trips to the kitchen, one very brief excursion out into the cold morning air to gather ingredients, and they had everything lain out in front of them on the floor of their shared room.

Then it was just a matter of waiting for Mummy to leave.

As luck would have it, they did not have to wait long. Dís headed out early for a few hours, to visit a friend across town who'd taken ill. She poked her head into their room before she left, sighing when they yelped and shuffled to hide the components of their master plan from her.

"Whatever it is you're planning, just try to refrain from severely injuring yourselves before I get back, alright?"

They nodded emphatically and smiled their most winning smiles.

Dís narrowed her eyes, her mouth turning up at the corners ever so slightly as she added, "And take good care of Uncle Thorin."

"Oh, we will!" Fili said earnestly.

Kili grinned his support, cheeks dimpling and dark eyes bright with what Dís _hoped_ was sincerity.

They saw her to the door and kissed her goodbye, waving at her retreating back till she disappeared round the street corner. Then, as soon as she was well and truly gone, they turned and ran back to their room as fast as they could, almost tripping over each other in the process. They scooped up the materials they'd gathered and tiptoed down the hall to Thorin's room.

They stopped outside the door, listening intently for any movement from within. "What if he's still asleep?" whispered Kili.

"We'll just wait till he wakes up," Fili replied. He placed a hand on the doorknob and turned it, freezing as the handle squeaked loudly. After a moment's tense silence he pushed the door open and stuck his head into the room.

Kili craned his neck to peek in after him. "What is it? Is he awake?"

"He's asleep," Fili said, disappointed.

"Aww, no. Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure."

Kili squeezed his way in past his older brother. Thorin was barely distinguishable under a veritable mountain of quilts and blankets, snoring away softly to himself, one arm tucked under the pillow.

"How long d'ya think he'll sleep for?" Kili asked.

"Dunno."

They both paused, staring at their sleeping uncle and feeling very thwarted.

"Do we wait here or–"

"_Mahal_, whatever it is you're waiting for, I hope it happens soon," Thorin grumbled.

Fili and Kili jumped guiltily. Thorin was scowling at them from behind a curtain of black hair, his eyes squinted against the morning light streaming in through the shutters.

"Sorry, Uncle," Fili said, scuffing his feet against the floorboards. "We didn't mean to wake you."

"Well, I'm awake now," sighed Thorin, propping himself up on one elbow with a slight wince. "What do you need, boys?"

"Well, we sort of thought we mi–"

"We're gonna make you better!" Kili interrupted, beaming, holding up a roll of bandages in either hand.

Thorin groaned and slumped face-first into the pillow again. "Is this the kind of rest your mother had in mind when she asked me to stay?"

"Mama's gone out," Fili explained. "We're going to look after you until she gets back."

"When does she get back?" Thorin asked, sounding a bit desperate.

"Not sure. A few hours, maybe."

Thorin was silent for a few moments, evidently thinking through his options. But eventually he sighed, and rolled over and sat up, blinking at them blearily through his sleep-mussed hair. "What did you have in mind?"

The grin that Fili and Kili gave him was hardly confidence-inspiring.

"This really isn't necessary, Fili. Your mother saw to my bandages already."

"_Yes_, but _just_ in case," Fili said, wrapping another layer of clean bandage around Thorin's bicep, where one of the trolls had got in a lucky blow and split the skin. "We don't want it to get infected."

Thorin opened his mouth to protest, and immediately shut it. He didn't want to ruin his nephews' fun, not when this was the first they'd spent any length of time with him in more than a year. He knew he was not the uncle he should have been; he was terrible at thinking up things to do with them, so he left it up to the boys to invent the games. If they wanted to play something, he'd usually go along with it, which opened his eyes considerably to the wonders of a child's brain. (Bofur was a million times better at dealing with his nephews than he was.) Half the games that Fili and Kili came up with he could never have imagined in his wildest dreams.

Playing doctors was not one of these. He and Dís and Frerin had often run around bandaging each other's feet, putting their arms in slings and pretending to be medical experts. Fili and Kili has simply taken it a step further, dealing with an actually injured patient (whom, of course, Thorin had the luck to be).

He turned his attention to the younger of the brothers, who was doing a marvellous job of bandaging Thorin's perfectly undamaged wrist.

"Kili, I'm not injured there," Thorin said gently.

The little dwarfling hummed happily to himself and ignored his uncle.

Suddenly Fili gasped, going quite pale and dropping the bandages.

Thorin looked up in alarm. "What's wrong?"

"We forgot to check your _heartbeat_!" he cried. He quickly scrambled into Thorin's lap and put one ear to his chest. Soon he pulled away, smiling again. "It's alright, it's still beating."

"I hardly think–"

Kili shushed him and moved across to Thorin's other side, to see to his _other_ undamaged wrist. "We're try'na fix you, Uncle Thorin," he explained slowly, as if to a child. "Just hush and let us work."

So Thorin hushed and let them work for the next hour or so. They clambered around on the bed, feeling his forehead for a temperature and checking in his mouth to make sure he hadn't lost any teeth and asking him how many fingers they were holding up. They made him eat "special medicine food" (a sandwich) and rubbed grass on his hands (utilising their special healing qualities), and wanted to know if he was feeling woozy.

"No, just bored," he muttered to himself.

Eventually his nephews made their way to sit on the bed behind him and inspect his head for any wounds that Dís had missed. Thorin, fairly sullen at this point, tolerated it, until he felt little hands tugging on his hair in a very familiar fashion.

"Are you braiding my hair?" he demanded, half turning around.

"It'll help make you feel better!" Kili said hopefully.

"I seriously hope you boys don't plan on doing this for much longer," Thorin growled. "Uncle Thorin would like to rest, and–"

As he spoke, Fili had moved his hands down to Thorin's shoulders and found the tense place in his back.

"What…are you doing?" Thorin asked, all the anger draining from his voice.

"Mama always gives us a massage when were sick," Fili told him. "It makes us feel better."

"Well," Thorin said, his eyes starting to flutter close, "that's just…really…that's just great."

Fili sat back. "If you're tired, Uncle, we can stop now. We'll go play in the kitchen or something and let you re–"

"No!"

His nephews started.

Thorin twisted to look at them over his shoulder. "You can do whatever you want, boys. Keep playing for however long you like."

Slow smiles lit up Fili and Kili's faces as they realised their uncle was serious. "Really?" Kili asked excitedly.

Thorin paused. "As long as I get another massage."

And so it was that when Dís came home an hour later, she found Thorin fast asleep on his stomach, his hair braided and every inch of his arms bandaged, with Fili and Kili sitting on either side of him and taking it in turns to massage his shoulders.

They grinned up at her as she entered. "Look, Mama, we fixed Uncle!" Kili hissed.

It was only with a great effort that Dís managed to keep from bursting out laughing. "You can stop now, my loves. I think Uncle Thorin has had quite enough pampering for today," she said dryly.

Thorin cracked one eye open and looked at her mournfully. "One more minute?" he pleaded.

Dís couldn't help but laugh at that. "The first time I hear you beg for something in over ten years, and it's for a massage," she chuckled. "Be Aulë, I'll not be letting you forget _this_ any time soon, Thorin Oakenshield."

The heir to the Lonely Mountain growled and threw a pillow at her.


	4. The Highest Form of Flattery

Thorin grew more and more restless over the next few days, until the boys were forced to avoid their uncle for fear of his temper. That very morning he'd yelled at them for tracking mud all over the floorboards in his room. Fili and Kili had fled, confused; Thorin was always the worst offender when it came to leaving his boots on inside the house.

"Uncle's really grumpy today," Kili commented sadly to their mother.

"Even grumpier than usual," Fili said with a grin.

Dís shook her head. "It's because I'm keeping him cooped up inside the house. He's never sat still for so long in his whole life." She poked playfully at Kili, who was squirming around in her lap as she attempted to brush the tangles out of his hair. "Remind you of someone?"

Kili giggled.

"When do you think Uncle will be better?" questioned Fili.

"In a couple of days, I suppose." She set the brush down and ran her fingers through Kili's hair, quickly working in two small braids and securing them at the nape of his neck with a silver clasp. "And don't take Uncle Thorin's anger to heart, my loves," she added. "He's not mad at you."

"Who is he mad at, then?" Fili asked.

Dís huffed a laugh. "A lot of people. But not you." She patted Kili on the shoulder to indicate she was done, and let him slide off her lap and onto the floor. "Now, what trouble do you expect to get up to today, my tiny terrors?"

They both grinned up at her, a little blonde lion cub and a dimpled, bright-eyed imp.

"We were thinking of visiting Mister Bifur and Bofur and Bombur," said Fili. "They're going back to the Iron Hills soon, and Bofur promised they'd show us some new toys if we stopped by."

"There's a mechin– a manicha– a _menachinal_ bear, an' it moves around on its own!" Kili added excitedly. "An' a little carved troll that crushes nuts when you pull back its arm!"

"Mm, very exciting," Dís smiled. "Mind you keep out from under foot, and don't stay for too long, alright?"

They nodded vigorously.

"Off you run th–"

"Wait!"

Dís and her sons turned to the door, where Thorin had appeared in the hallway. He wore a fur coat over a simple blue tunic and loose trousers. His sword was at his belt. Determination and apprehension were vying for dominance across his worn features.

"I'll accompany you," he said, and his voice went up by the slightest note at the end, making it more of a question than a statement.

_(The heir to the Lonely Mountain was definitely not asking his little sister for permission to leave the house. The heir to the Lonely Mountain most certainly did not fear his sister's wrath. The heir to the Lonely Mountain was merely being polite, of course.)_

The sister of the heir to the Lonely Mountain folded her arms and looked him up and down, her eyes narrowed. "You're meant to be resting."

"I'll hardly be straining myself," he growled, exasperated. "We'll only be gone for a couple of hours. They're lodging just a few streets away. And I can keep an eye on the boys for you."

Dís considered this for a few moments, then sighed and said, "I suppose that should be alright. If only to give myself a rest from your constant complaining."

Thorin snorted, trying not to show how relieved he was, and was out the door before she could change her mind, with Fili and Kili hot on his heels.

"_Mahal_, you'd think I was keeping him chained up in the cellar," they heard Dís mutter as they made it out the garden gate.

* * *

The path to the shop was not a long one. In fact, Bifur, Bofur and Bombur had chosen the building over other, larger ones because it was nearer to Dís and the boys.

Fili and Kili practically had to run to keep up with Thorin. Their uncle walked with the single-minded determination that pervaded everything he did, today more than ever; he took great long strides, his head up and his chest out, relishing the bitingly cold morning air as if he'd been starved of oxygen for the past few days.

Kili watched him carefully as he walked, and slowly lengthened his own steps to ridiculous proportions, and swung his arms by his sides in an effort to mimic Thorin. Satisfied at the resemblance, he smiled and stuck his nose in the air.

At the sight of his little brother trotting behind Uncle Thorin, head held high, arms swinging almost up to eye level, Fili had to clap his hands over his mouth to keep from screeching with laughter. As it was a strangled sort of giggle escaped him, and Thorin turned to look at them over his shoulder. "What are you two up to?" he asked suspiciously.

Quick as a flash, Kili dropped the imitation and resumed his normal walk. He blinked innocently under Thorin's scrutiny, dark eyes wide. Fili had to bite his lip to maintain a straight face anywhere _near_ as good as his little brother's. As soon as Thorin had turned away, Fili and Kili grinned at each other. They had a new game to play.

Many odd looks were cast in Thorin's direction as he crossed town that morning.

(Well, not so much at _Thorin_ as at the two little dwarves marching along behind him, one in front of the other, noses in the air and arms swinging comically as they tried to keep pace with their uncle.)

They heard Bofur before they saw him; his voice lilted out through the wide open door into the street, instantly recognisable even over the loud, repetitive _crack!_ of metal on wood that emanated from within the shop:

"…an' I said to 'im, I said, 'Look here lad, d'ya really think ya can out-drink a dwarf? An Iron Hills dwarf, no less?' An' 'e said to me, 'I bet ye five silvers that I can'. And can ya guess? Drunk 'im right under the table, I did, and took those five silvers too."

A small crowd of children was huddled outside the shop window, gawking at the toys that were hopping and ambling and flapping about on the display table. Thorin edged around the throng and strode through the side door with barely a glance at the exhibit. Fili and Kili abandoned their game and dashed ahead of their uncle, knowing that the _really_ good stuff lay inside.

"Bifur, Bofur, look who we brought to visit!" Kili cried, bouncing over to where the two older dwarves were busy chipping away at the beginnings of an intricately carved rocking horse.

Bofur turned in time to catch Kili, who threw himself forward in his customary greeting. "Oho there, laddies!" Bofur laughed, holding Kili against his hip with one arm and ruffling Fili's hair with his free hand. Bifur lay down chisel and hammer and nodded at Thorin and the boys. "How did ya manage to spirit yer uncle away from yer mammy?" asked Bofur, smiling.

"I'm a free dwarf," Thorin explained, wincing slightly as he took a seat on a bench beside Bifur, "in return for giving my sister a couple of hours peace."

"From yer grumbling, I'll warrant," Bofur said cheerfully.

"Yeah, Uncle's been really cranky the last few days," Kili whispered in his ear, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

Even Bifur's eyes crinkled at that. Thorin just grimaced.

Then Bombur walked in carrying a crate of mechanical dwarven soldiers, and with a cry of, "_Bombur_!", Fili and Kili flew across the room and all but tackled him.

"Is it me or the toys you're so happy to see?" Bombur asked with a chuckle, placing the crate carefully on a low bench so the boys could get a look inside.

"Both," grinned Fili.

As the adults seated themselves around a narrow wooden table to talk, the boys settled on the floor with two handfuls of mechanical soldiers each and proceeded to stage an epic battle.

"This is Uncle Thorin," Kili said, picking up one of the soldiers and placing him in front of the crooked rows of mechanical dwarves he'd lined up.

"You got Thorin last time," Fili reminded him.

Kili paused, looked very disappointed, then nodded dejectedly.

"Oh, don't look so miserable, you goof," Fili sighed, tickling his little brother under the chin and grinning when he squealed and rolled away. "You can be Thorin again if you want."

Kili beamed.

And so the next hour was spent winding up their mechanical soldiers as fast as they could and watching them march jerkily across the floorboards to collide with each other. Whoever had the most dwarves standing at the end would win. (Fili, of course, surreptitiously knocked over several of his own soldiers to allow Kili to win most of the rounds. The brilliant smile of incredulous triumph on his little brother's face made it all worth it.)

Then Bombur called them over for lunch and the battle was abandoned as they rushed to the table. The adults laughed as they fell upon the food ravenously, devouring anything and everything that was set before them.

"Try to _taste_ the food on its way down, lads," Bofur cried, "not just _inhale_ it."

" 'm hungry," Fili said around a mouthful of bread.

"Mm-hmm-m," Kili added. He was trying and failing to fit an entire apple in his mouth.

Thorin shook his head at their table manners. "That's not very dignified," he said, and Fili and Kili stopped eating long enough to look apologetic.

Snorting, Bifur grabbed another pheasant leg and muttered something in Khuzdul that made his cousins laugh and Thorin clear his throat sheepishly.

"What'd he say?" Fili whispered to Bombur.

"He was reminding your uncle that we've heard all about his table manners when _he_ was younger," grinned Bombur.

Fili giggled, unable to picture regal Uncle Thorin shovelling food into his mouth.

Once the food and the conversation had finished, the boys helped the older dwarves clear the table. Then they all gathered in the workshop to see some of the special new toys that Bifur, Bofur and Bombur had promised to show them. The tiny puzzle boxes (not too difficult, not too easy) that Bifur specialised in were a big hit, as were the little wooden boats that Bombur said could withstand harsh river rapids. The clear favourites, however, were the mechanical soldiers that Fili and Kili had been playing with earlier. Bofur had laughed at their joyful expressions when he told them that they could take home a dozen each, and patted them fondly on the head when they hugged him in thanks.

"Well, it's time we were off," Thorin announced finally.

"Aww, no," moaned Kili. "Can't we stay a _li'l_ bit longer, Uncle Thorin?"

He shook his head. "Your mother will murder me if we're not home soon." He looked out the window. "It'll be dark before long, and…I _think_ it's started snowing."

Fili and Kili yelped excitedly and raced to the window, pressing their noses to the glass to stare at the soft white snow that had began to fall. The pavement was already covered in a thin layer of it. They grinned at each other; snow meant sledding and skating and snowballs, and play-fighting with the icicles that formed on trees and the eaves of houses.

"Come on, boys," said Thorin. "Say goodbye."

They hugged Bifur and Bombur, and Bofur again, and thanked them for making lunch and showing them the new toys. They were halfway out the door when Bofur snapped his fingers and ran into a back room, returning with a small metal box, not even half the size of his hand.

"Give this to yer mammy, boys, as a gift from us," he said, smiling warmly.

Fili took it tentatively, running his fingers over the beautiful etchings on the lid, and opened the clasp. Almost immediately a sweet little tune began to play, as the tiny cogs on the inside of the box turned around each other. Kili stood on tip-toes to look over his brother's elbow, eyes wide in marvel.

Thorin shifted, frowning. That was an expensive gift, one that would have taken many hours of labour to perfect, and his three friends weren't in the best of financial positions at the moment. He caught Bofur's eye. "Are you sure you can afford to–"

"Let her know that she'll have to wind it up every night," Bofur interrupted, giving Thorin a look that clearly said to _shut his mouth_.

"Mama's gonna _love_ it," beamed Kili.

Bofur smiled again. "Well, that's a relief. Now, ye'd best be off before it starts snowing too hard."

* * *

The trip home was significantly quicker than the trip to Bifur, Bofur and Bombur's house; the boys ran ahead of their uncle, whooping and stomping in the puddles that the snow had created on the uneven pavements (careful to keep their small boxes of soldiers dry). Thorin might have reprimanded them for muddying the bottoms of their trousers, but the excursion out of the house had put him in a good mood, and he was loathe to ruin their fun. He'd suffer Dís' lecture for their sake.

Fili and Kili raced each other through the front door. "Mama!" Kili cried, holding his box of mechanical soldiers above his head. "Mama, look what we got!"

Dís appeared at the end of the hall, her sleeves rolled up and a rag thrown over one shoulder. She blew a stray curl out of her eyes and put her hands on her hips.

"ByAulë, I'd almost forgotten I had sons!" she exclaimed. "A couple of hours indeed, Thorin Oakenshield! It's almost dark."

Thorin grimaced and dropped down onto one of the lounges in the sitting room. "Sorry."

"Mama, mama, _look_!" Kili bounded down the hall and skidded to a halt in front of his mother, closely followed by Fili. "Bofur gave us some new toys!"

Dís herded them back into the sitting room, sighing at the muddy tracks they left on the floorboards. She slumped down onto the couch beside Thorin and waved a hand at the boys. "Alright, my loves, show me."

They emptied their boxes onto the floor, laying out the soldiers and winding them up, and grinning proudly as they marched across the room. Dís smiled and made an appreciative '_ooh'_ sound.

"They're wonderful," she told them. "I hope you said thank you."

"We did," chorused Fili and Kili together.

"Good boys."

"We were playing battles all afternoon," said Kili. "And _this_ one was Uncle Thorin." He held up the little mechanical dwarf that he'd designated as Thorin, which he'd kept in his pocket apart from the other soldiers.

"Mm, I can see the resemblance," Dís chuckled, comparing the little wooden soldier's mane of unkempt black hair to her brother's.

Thorin, dozing on the lounge, cracked open an eyelid. "I'm sure that was meant as an insult," he growled in mock-irritation.

His sister laughed. Then she picked herself up off the lounge and stretched, arching her sore back. "Come on, boys. We'll have supper early, before Uncle Thorin properly falls asleep."

Thorin groaned as Dís half dragged him to his feet and pushed him down the hall – the trip to Bifur, Bofur and Bombur's place had done him good, but left him aching and exhausted. Just watching Fili and Kili bounce ahead of him was making him tired. His nephews never seemed to run out of energy.

They took their places around the table, and Fili helped Dís serve up the broth that she'd made that afternoon. Dís said a quick blessing to Aulë, and conversation ceased for a good five minutes as the family ate in companionable silence.

Then the Heir to the Lonely Mountain paused, and squinted at his soup, and looked up a his sister. "There's peas in this," he said.

Dís nodded, and continued eating.

"You know I hate peas," Thorin frowned.

Taking a deep breath, Dís lay down her spoon. "Peas are good for you," she explained slowly. "You need to eat your greens."

"No I don't," Thorin muttered rebelliously, with all intention of picking every single pea out of his bowl. One glare from his sister made him rethink that decision.

A moment later Kili piped up from across the table. "Mama, you _know_ I hate carrots," he moaned.

"You need to eat your carrots," Dís sighed, just about ready to go eat in private.

"No I don't," said Kili, and he lowered his voice and scrunched his eyebrows in what was by far the most impressive Thorin Oakenshield impression ever done by a five year old.

Thorin blinked. "Was that meant to be…" He looked at Dís, who had gotten up from the table because she was laughing so hard, at Fili, who had all but fallen off his chair, and at Kili, who was looking very pleased with himself indeed. "Oh." Thorin began to chuckle. "Well done."

Dís' laughter redoubled; the expression on her brother's face was priceless.

* * *

**This chapter took far longer than I expected, sorry about that! It was only meant to be a short one too...oh well.**

**The next chapter is the one that I basically wrote this whole fic for, so hopefully that should be up soon! It involves little dwarflings in peril and Uncle Thorin almost tearing his hair out, so stick around!**

**As always, all comments are greatly appreciated! C:**


	5. Ice

"D'you think Bofur's in love with mama?" Kili wondered as they made their way down the frozen path.

"Why?" asked Fili. "Because of the music box?"

Kili nodded. They'd given Bofur's gift to their mother two nights ago, after they'd finished dinner and Thorin was just about falling asleep at the table. Her face had softened as soon as the music started playing, and she'd stared down at it for a long while before saying anything, humming quietly under her breath. Then she'd shaken herself and smiled sadly, and Thorin had looked at her gravely, with something like regret in his eyes.

"Nah," Fili said after a moment's thought. "Got something to do with royalty, and the days before Smaug kicked everybody out of Erebor; I've heard her hum that tune before. I reckon it's just an early birthday present."

"But it's another two weeks before her birthday!"

"Bofur and them are going back to the Iron Hills soon, remember? And they probably won't get to see mama again, what with them being busy packing up the shop and trying to sell the last of their wares. Mama would know what they meant by it."

Kili mulled that over. "Okay."

The path wound steadily downwards, snaking around clumps of gnarled ash trees that had lost almost all their leaves. It had snowed profusely in the two days since they'd visited Bifur, Bofur and Bombur, and had gotten immensely colder. The temperature plummeted so far, in fact, that the lake on the edge of town had frozen completely over. Upon hearing of this news from one of their neighbours, Fili and Kili had been practically bouncing around the house, begging Dís to let them go skating. She'd given in (after being treated to the combined persuasive power of Kili's huge, dark, beseeching eyes, and Fili's bright earnest ones) on the condition that Thorin accompany them.

Needless to say, Thorin agreed. 'Combined persuasive power' aside, he still looked forward to any opportunity to get out of the house.

But Uncle Thorin had taken _ages_ to get ready that morning (the cold made him sleepy), and the boys managed to convince their mother to let them go ahead of him. "He'll only be a few minutes behind us," Fili had explained reasonably. "We can look after ourselves for that long!"

They reached the end of the path, and Kili clung to his brother's hand in excited nervousness. The lake lay before them under the perfect blue sky, all frozen glass glinting in the pale morning sun, quite empty except for one or two sparrows that were investigating the ice with their beaks.

"We've got the whole lake to ourselves!" Fili cried, grinning at his little brother. Kili grinned back, and they raced to the bench that lay near the water's edge, tugging off their boots and grabbing their skates from their satchels and pulling them on over their thick winter socks. Then they hobbled down the sloped bank to the frozen water.

Fili's ice-legs came back almost instantly. He was old enough now for skating to have become like a little used muscle; rusty, but easily improved after a few moments of practice. Kili, however, had only ever been skating once or twice, and he took tentative steps after his older brother, arms spread wide for balance.

"Fee," he wavered. "Help?"

Fili looked over his shoulder and saw Kili staring at him with wide uncertain eyes.

"Here, Kili," he smiled, taking his little brother by the hands and gently leading him further out onto the lake. "Don't try and walk on the ice, it's not like land," he cautioned. "You gotta _glide_."

Kili nodded seriously and gave it his best shot. He didn't get very far before his legs flew out from under him, and would have fallen flat on his face if Fili hadn't caught him, stifling his laughter so as not to hurt his brother's feelings. "That was good, Kee," Fili said encouragingly. "Come on, give it another go."

Slowly, with Fili's constant reassurance, Kili grew more confident on the ice. Soon his movements were less disjointed (if still cautious). The two brothers skated around the perimeter of the lake, chattering gleefully about their plans for the snow season, calling out points of interest to each other and laughing good-naturedly when either of them tripped.

Then something hit Fili below his right eye, and he gave a cry of shock and pain, and the brothers both whirled to face the bank.

A small group of human children stood snickering at the top of the slope. A few of them brandished sticks, but most of them were stooping to pick up pebbles from the path, handing out the best ones amongst themselves. One of the children, a nasty looking boy with an impressive gap between his two front teeth, stepped forward and flung another rock at the brothers.

Fili scrambled backwards, pushing Kili behind him. The pebble connected painfully with his shin, and despite the angry scowl that he was giving the gang of children he could not prevent a small shout from escaping his lips.

"Get off our lake, dwarf-scum!" the gap-toothed boy shouted. His friends hollered their support. "Go back to your cave!"

Fili's gaze darkened. He'd heard those kinds of slurs before, from some of the human kids in town, but rarely carrying any real weight and _never_ when Kili was around. He did his best to shelter his little brother from the crueller side of their world, just as Thorin did for him when he was very small.

He wished Thorin was here now.

But Thorin was probably still trying to drag himself out of bed, and who knew how long he might be? Kili's grip on his sleeve was tight. The dwarfling may not have understood what was going on, but he could feel the hostility radiating off his big brother, and the wicked grins of the human children were scaring him. _No_, Fili thought, eyes blazing angrily at the sight of cheerful, irrepressible Kili _afraid_. _No_. Thorin was not here, but Fili was, and he'd faced down tougher bullies than the gap-toothed boy and his gang.

(Albeit with friends at his back. He pushed that thought to the side.)

The children were still screeching abuse across the ice, and throwing pebbles that elicited muffled yelps whenever they found their mark. Fili's anger bubbled to the surface. He crouched down beside Kili, wincing as a stone glanced off his shoulder. His brother's eyes were wide and frightened.

"Stay right here, Kee," Fili said softly. "I'll go sort this out."

Kili nodded, but his shoulders were hunched and his posture defensive, and it took a great effort to let go of his big brother's sleeve.

The knowledge that Kili was relying on him made Fili more reckless than he might have been on his own. He skated straight towards the bullies, chin raised defiantly against their jeers. He knew somewhere in the back of his mind that he would not beat them, but dwarven children were notoriously vicious in a fight; perhaps if he gave enough of them black eyes and bloodied noses they would run away and leave Kili alone.

A few of them _did_ look worried as he approached, dropping their pebbles and backing away slightly from the terrible anger in Fili's eyes. But the gap-toothed boy laughed and tapped his nearest friend.

"Teach him a lesson, would you Evan?"

Evan, a huge hulking lad whose hands could've fit easily around Fili's neck, stepped forward with a menacing smile.

"No, not like that," the gap-toothed boy said, smirking. He nodded down at the ground, at something that Fili could not see above the rise in the bank. "Give that a go."

Crowing at the ingenuity of his chief, Evan stooped out of Fili's line of sight. When he reappeared his face was red and his arms were straining to lift an enormous rock over his head.

Fili breathed a curse word that Dís would've killed him for.

He dove to the side as Evan hurled the stone. It slammed into the ice where he'd been standing not a second before, and the crowd of children gave a little gasp. It seemed some of them weren't comfortable with the lengths their leader was going to, to get the dwarves off the lake. But the ice did not crack, and Fili let himself relax for the slightest moment. The sound of splintering startled him out of his inertia.

He scrambled to his feet, ungainly in his skates, and looked around for the source of the noise. He went rigid as soon as he found it; wide, angular cracks were racing each other across the ice, rupturing the surface of the lake like lightning, all branching out from the massive stone that Evan had thrown.

And ending directly under the little dwarf standing frozen in the centre of the lake.

There was a moment of absolute silence, and Kili stared at his brother with eyes as wide as saucers. The ice shifted under him. Fili gave a horrified cry.

The ice split.

o-o-o

The sky was clear, and the air beautifully fresh, but Thorin found himself thinking wistfully of his comfortable, warm bed back at Dís' house.

"You're going soft, Oakenshield," he told himself wryly.

He took his time on the path to the lake; he worried sometimes that the boys felt stifled by his protectiveness. They would be fine on their own for a few more minutes, he reassured himself. Fili was a responsible lad, he'd look after his–

A piercing scream shattered the stillness of the frozen park, and Thorin's blood ran cold. _Oh, no_.

He ran.


	6. Rescue

Thorin did not think he had ever run so fast in his life. He could hear unfamiliar children shouting, but he ignored them, directing his entire focus on the voice of his nephew howling over and over, "Kili! Kili!"

As for Kili, he had not made a sound since that terrible scream. Thorin would have preferred if he'd been crying.

He raced down the path and cleared the tree line, and the frozen lake appeared before him, glinting under the perfect blue sky. He paused, gasping for breath, his ribs ablaze with white hot pain as he scanned the area for any sign of the boys. His discomfort was forgotten in a moment.

Great cracks had fractured the ice, running from one bank to the very centre of the lake, where Kili was desperately trying not to slide further into the water. Thorin's heart almost stopped; the bottom half of the dwarfling's body had already disappeared beneath the surface. He was holding on to the ice by his fingernails.

Crushing down his rising panic, Thorin searched urgently for his other nephew. When he found him he could have wept. Fili was edging his way across the lake, heedless of the way it cracked under his skates, still shouting for his little brother. The ice groaned ominously, but Fili pressed onwards.

"Fili!" Thorin roared.

Fili's head whipped around, fear and relief mingling on his face. "Uncle!" he cried.

"Stay still, stay still! Don't move!" Thorin abandoned the path and ran straight to the ice. He barely stopped when he reached the water's edge, slowing down only to ensure he didn't immediately fall over. His boots found no traction on the smooth, glassy ice, and he pin wheeled his arms to stay upright. "Fili, _don't move_!" he repeated.

His oldest nephew hesitated, torn between obeying Thorin and getting to Kili.

"I don't want you falling in too, you understand?" Thorin explained. "We'll rescue him, alright, I promise. Just _don't move_."

Fili looked like he wanted to disagree, but he nodded and held his position.

Thorin turned his attention to his other nephew, still clinging, motionless, to the edge of the ice. Kili's tears shone in the sunlight, but he seemed too scared to sob, or indeed to make any kind of movement at all. He was deathly pale, and Thorin did not want to think about how cold the water was. He knew that he had to get the boy out fast, or there was a good chance he might die. He remembered abruptly that Kili could not swim.

"Kili!" The dwarfling didn't respond, gazing fixedly at the ice directly in front of his face. Thorin could see he was trembling. "Kili, _look at me_!" he growled, putting all the force he could muster into those three words. He hated using that tone of voice with the boy, but there would be time to apologise later, once everybody was safely back at home.

His nephew turned his head slowly to face him, face drawn with terror. Even with that slight motion the ice creaked in protest. Kili screwed his eyes shut.

"Kili, it's going to be alright," he said, trying to sound soothing but not sure if he was succeeding. As he spoke he made his way further out onto the lake, inching across the ice towards his nephews. "Kili, look at me. It's going to be fine."

Shivering more noticeably now, Kili opened his eyes and stared at his uncle. Thorin's heart almost broke to see the trust in the little dwarfling's face. What had he truly done to deserve that kind of faith? A visit now and again, a gift when he could afford it. He could count on one hand the occasions he'd spent more than two days at a time with his nephews. _Mahal, I'll change. I swear I'll change. Just get us home safely._

"We're going to get you out of that water first, alright?" Thorin said, smiling in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. "Can you nod if you understand?"

Kili gave the smallest of nods, lower lip trembling.

"Okay. Now, I need you to get one knee up onto the ice. Can you do that for me, Kili?"

A slight shake of the head.

Thorin fought the urge to race across the ice and scoop his nephew up. "Yes you can," he said instead. "You _can_, Kili."

Kili swallowed and shifted one leg. The ice splintered, and he let out a choked cry.

"It's alright! It's alright!" Thorin shouted. "If you move slowly it won't break. Inch by inch, Kili, come on."

"You can do it, Kee!" yelled Fili.

Kili's gaze flicked to his big brother. Fresh tears welled up in his eyes. "Fili, I'm scared," he sobbed, teeth chattering.

"I know, I know you are," Fili said gently. "But we _have_ to get you out of that water." He took an unconscious step forward, hands stretched out to his brother, and flinched back when the ice fractured. He crept forward more carefully. "Bring one knee up onto the ice, Kili. I promise it won't break, not if you move _really_ slowly. I _promise_."

Kili bit his lip and tried again. As he moved he kept his eyes on his older brother's face, drawing courage from him as the ice groaned and shifted and spat up needle-like splinters. After a tense minute he had one knee up on the lake surface.

"Good lad," Thorin breathed. "And the other one, carefully now."

Watching his tiny nephew struggle to haul himself up onto semi-solid ground, Thorin thanked the gods that the hole in the ice was small. Any larger and Kili would not have been able to brace himself on either side of the aperture, and the process of hooking his other leg over the edge might have been impossible. As it was Kili almost fell into the water twice, and each time Thorin thought his heart might give way.

But eventually, many anxious seconds later, Kili was kneeling on the ice with only his skates trailing in the water. Thorin allowed himself to relax for a moment. He all but jumped out of his skin when someone called his name from the bank.

"Thorin! Thorin, are ye alright?"

He turned to see Bofur charging down the bank, face coloured with anxiety. The toymaker gave a shout of dismay when he saw little Kili crouched by the hole in the ice. An instant later he was running back the way he'd come, shouting over his shoulder, "I'll get some rope! Stay where ye are!"

Thorin might have laughed if the situation wasn't so dire. Instead he turned to face his youngest nephew again, giving him an encouraging smile. "Bofur will be back before you know it, Kili," he called. "We'll have you home soon."

But Kili did not answer. His head was down on his hands, his slender frame trembling terribly. He had curled in on himself as tightly as he could.

"Kee!" Fili cried. "Look up, little brother!"

Kili raised his head enough to peek over at Fili. His lips were blue now, and his eyes lifeless.

Thorin swore. The lad would pass out from the cold before they could ever reach him. He had to get him to move. "I need you to stand up for me, Kili," he yelled. "Come on, up you get!"

" 'm t-tired," Kili whimpered.

"_Stand up Kili_."

Sniffling miserably, the dwarfling carefully got one skate flat on the ice and raised himself up into a standing position, feet turned inwards awkwardly. Thorin breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright, now, you need to –"

Then Kili sneezed without warning. Everything went downhill from there.

The ice fractured from the sudden, violent movement with a resounding _crack!_, and Kili shrieked wordlessly.

"No!" Fili and Thorin cried in unison.

Heedless to the shouts of his brother and uncle, Kili cast his tear-stained face around this way and that, looking desperately for an escape. But great fissures were opening in the lake all around him, and the ice beneath his skates heaved and tilted. He let out a broken sob. "_Fili_."

Fili was moving before his little brother had even called for him.

He back-pedalled, moving onto ice that was not cracked and creaking, and skated around till he stood to the right of his brother. He paused for a precious second, estimating, calculating, staring at the ice that separated him from Kili, and the perilous crevices that grew more numerous the closer his eyes strayed towards the petrified dwarfling. At last he nodded.

Thorin tore his gaze away from his youngest nephew and caught sight of the elder. He pieced together in seconds what Fili was planning.

"Fili, _no_!" he shouted. "Bofur will be back any moment with rope! _Fili_!"

The blonde ignored him. Kili was crying his name again, and Fili blocked out all sounds other than his baby brother's voice. Fili tensed, readying himself.

Thorin felt like he might explode. He was too heavy, far too heavy to proceed any further onto the ice and stop his nephew. He could only watch, helpless. "Don't move!" he roared. "Fili, don't you _dare move_!"

Fili glanced at him once, an apology in his eyes, and took off.

He flew across the ice, his skates a blur, gaining speed as he neared his brother. He barely faltered when he reached the first of the fissures. It was only when he came to a particularly wide gap that he threw himself forward, tackling Kili around the middle and carrying them both over the hole in the ice, momentum sending them clear of the worst of the cracks.

They landed heavily and slid the rest of the way across the lake, coming to rest only when they hit the snow-covered bank. They remained there, motionless.

Thorin stumbled over, cursing the entire way, and fell to his knees beside them. "Boys? _Boys_? _Say something_," he growled, hands hovering above their bodies.

Fili did not reply for a long while, occupied with murmuring soft words of reassurance into his baby brother's ear. Kili was curled up in his lap, sobbing quietly into Fili's shoulder and clinging on for all he was worth. He was trembling like a leaf – Thorin suspected it was only half from the cold. Then Fili looked up at him, still rubbing slow comforting circles on Kili's back.

"We're alright," he whispered.

Thorin's shoulders slumped. He placed one hand on Fili's golden hair, his anger at the boy's disobedience forgotten in his relief. Kili did not look likely to release his hold on his brother any time soon, so Thorin scooped them both up and held them close to his chest, disregarding the way his broken ribs flared in protest. Kili buried his face in the fur of his uncle's collar, seeking whatever warmth he could find.

Bofur appeared on the path, a coil of rope held high above his head and his hat sitting askew over one eye. "I found the rope!" he hollered.

o-o-o

Thorin sent Bofur ahead to warn Dís that they were on their way. He was not looking forward to his sister's reaction, but the safety of his nephews was foremost in his thoughts, and he hurried home as fast as his aching ribs would allow.

Dís met them at the door with a fur blanket ready in her hands. She took her youngest without a word, wrapping him in the quilt and carrying him inside, straight to the fire, and Fili wriggled out of Thorin's arms to run after her. Thorin followed quickly, barely stopping to thank Bofur.

The fire blazed in the hearth, sending painful pins and needles dancing up Thorin's fingers as the sudden heat met his frozen skin. He could only imagine what little Kili was feeling. Dís had removed her youngest son's soaked clothes and bundled him up in what looked like every fur throw in the house. Only Kili's mop of dark hair and his sleepy, brown eyes were visible over the top of his cocoon of blankets. He yawned enormously, head cradled against his mother's chest. There was no fear in his face now, only drowsiness, Thorin was thankful to see; the memory of Kili's pale, petrified face was burnt into his mind.

He stood in the doorway, unwilling to interrupt the silent gathering. No words needed to be spoken between Dís and her sons. Her presence was enough to comfort the boys, and Fili and Kili had never needed speech to communicate. Fili sat on the ground beside Dís' rocking chair, one hand resting on his little brother's knee (or what was most probably his knee – it was difficult to tell under all the blankets).

Finally, long after Kili had drifted off to sleep, Dís stood up. She moved to the lounge and placed her youngest down on the cushions, arranging the blankets around him and ensuring his feet were covered. Fili moved to her side, looking down at the unconscious dwarfling.

"I'll look after him," he said quietly. "You can go now, mama."

Dís paused, inspecting him, then nodded. "Go get changed, my love. I'll find another blanket for you."

Fili disappeared into the hall, leaving Thorin and Dís alone. They were both silent. Dís could tell from her brother's expression how close she'd been to losing a son, and Thorin could not help but feel responsible. If he had walked a _little_ bit faster, woken a _little_ bit earlier…

"I did nothing today," he growled.

"Thorin–"

He shook his head. "No, listen. I did _nothing_. I didn't save Kili. I couldn't. _Fili_ did."

Dís sighed. "I know."

"Bofur told you?"

She gave a wry chuckle at that, leaning against the foot of the couch. "No." Her hand found its way to Kili's head, absently playing with his soft, dark hair.

"How, then?" Thorin frowned.

Dís' fingers stilled, and when she looked at her brother there was a fierce, wild light in her eyes. "I _know_, Thorin, because that's always how it's been," she said, and she was proud and sad at the same time. "When Kili is in trouble, who gets there first? It's not me, I can tell you that, no matter how fast I run. I might race across the world on winged horses, but my boys will always get to each other first. No army could keep Fili from Kili, no force on this earth, not even me, not even if I wanted to. You would never have saved Kili today, no matter how hard you tried. Fili would have beat you to him a thousand times over. _My boys will always get to each other first_."

Thorin gazed at his sister as the fire died in her eyes, pride a solid lump in his chest. "You've raised them well," he said, because he could trust his sister to understand what his heart was trying to say, even when his mouth would not cooperate.

"Glad I have your approval," Dís muttered dryly, her face softening.

Fili reappeared, dressed in new warm clothes, and Dís slipped out to fetch him a blanket. Wrapping it around his shoulders, Fili clambered carefully onto the end of the couch and perched there with his knees drawn up to his chest.

"I'm so proud of you, my love," Dís whispered, and pressed a kiss to her eldest son's forehead. "I'll be in the kitchen if you need anything."

Fili nodded and smiled at her. Then Dís strode out of the room, and Thorin was left alone with his nephews.

He dropped down onto one of the chairs, exhaling deeply as his aching muscles were finally given some respite. _You really _are_ going soft_, he thought half-heartedly. Then he cracked open one eye and saw Fili staring at him with a worried expression on his face.

Thorin sat up straighter immediately. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Fili bit his lip, looking down at his brother. He mumbled something that sounded a lot like, 'M'sry,' and a crease appeared between Thorin's brows. "What's wrong, Fili?" he said more forcefully.

"I'm sorry," Fili repeated, not meeting Thorin's gaze. "For disobeying you." He fiddled with the silver bead in his hair, a gift from his uncle when he'd been very small.

Shaking his head, Thorin stood up from the chair and went to kneel in front of Fili. "Don't apologise, Fili," he said gravely, clasping his nephew's hand between his own, two, much larger ones. "What you did today was very brave. Slightly fool-hardy," (Fili grinned sheepishly at that), "…but brave nonetheless." Thorin's own smile faltered slightly. "Never apologise for protecting your brother," he murmured. "_Never_."

Fili's eyes were solemn, and the resemblance to Frerin was startling. "Thank you, Uncle," he said. "I won't forget that."

"Good," Thorin rumbled. He patted his nephew's hand. Then he rose to his feet, and hesitated for a moment before leaning back down and kissing the top of Fili's head. Quick as a flash Fili had wrapped his arms around Thorin's neck. Thorin blinked. Then, carefully, he hugged the boy back.

"Fee?"

Thorin and Fili both turned to see Kili watching them blearily from the recess of his blanket mound.

"Go back to sleep, Kili, it's alright," Fili whispered.

Kili looked dismayed, even half asleep. "You were having a hug without me," he said sadly, resigned to being excluded from this bonding moment because of his inability to move.

Thorin huffed a laugh and shuffled over to his youngest nephew, bending down to wrap one arm around Kili's cocoon. The dwarfling hummed happily as Fili scrambled across to join their hug. "Warm," he breathed, and his eyes fluttered closed again.

Thorin's heart was full then, while he sat with his nephews held close to his chest. Something healed in his soul for a few, sweet moments, something that he knew would never be fully mended. He thought he might like to stay there forever. But he noticed with amusement that Kili was already snoring softly, and he disentangled himself as gently as he could so as not to disturb his nephew.

"Thank you, Uncle," Fili said again, shifting to allow Thorin to stand.

Thorin smiled and ruffled his hair, then turned to leave. He paused briefly at the door, waiting till Fili had settled beside his brother again, gazing at the fire, before making for the kitchen to help Dís with the chores.

He realised that he'd smiled more in the last week or so than he had in years. _It'll do you a world of good_, his sister had told him.

He ought to have known Dís wasn't talking about his health.


End file.
